Nut and bolt lock.



C. M. MENDENHALL.

NUT AND BOLT LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED 00120. 1916 IL,8 U 1L,958 Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

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NUT AND BOLT LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20. ms

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CLAREN'CE MEHDENHALL, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK nm'r am) new LOCK.

neonate.

." all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE M. MENDEN- some, -a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing in New Rochelle, in the Jounty ofWestchester, in the State of New York, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Nut and Bolt Locks, of which the following is atrue and exact de scription, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part thereof.

The general object of my present invention is to provide improved meansfor preventing parts threaded together, as a nut and bolt, fromunscrewing and thus working loose when subjected to vibration or otherforces tending to unscrew them when they should stay tight. Morespecifically, the object of my invention is to provide simple andeffective means which may be quickly and easily applied to variousordinary forms of threaded connections and which will not onlyefiectively check any tendency of the parts to unscrew, but will alsotend to screw the parts together in case vibration, shrinking or wear ofthe parts makes the screwing up nechessary to keep the threadedconnection ti t.

n carrying out my invention, 1 employ a spring which acts directlybetween th nut and bolt or other parts threaded together, or betweenoneof these parts and some third part and is applied to these parts underten sion and in such manner that it resists any i tendency of the partsto unscrew and tends to screw them tigh To facilitate the application ofthe spring under tension, ll first put the spring under tension and thenapply to the spring a removable clip or other re- 3 leasablebond whichholds the spring under tension preparatory to and during its applicationto t e parts to be locked together. After the spring is put in place,the clip is removed or the bond otherwise released.

The locking spring and the clip or other bond holding it under tensionform a unit which may readily be transported or kept in stock and whichmay form an article of commerce.

ill The various features of novelty which characterize my invention arepointed out in the annexed claims forming a part of this specification.For a better understanding of the invention, however, and of its advantotages and the specific objects obtained, refering it under tension;

diametral slot B Specification of Letters Patent'.' Patentgfl Apr, 29,,new

Application filed Uctober 20, 1916. Serial No. 126,854.

ence should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter,in which I have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of theinvention.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a structure in which one form of myinvention is employed;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the spring employed in Figs. 1 and 2, and clipapplied thereto to hold the spring under tension;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the clip shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the spring shown 1n Fig. 3 in its expandedconditlon;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a modified form of myinvention;

i Fig. 7 is an elevation illustrating a third form of my invention;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the spring employed in Fig. 7 and the means forholding the spring under tension;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the spring shown in Fig. 8 when in itstension-released or free condition;

Fi 10 is a plan view of a slightly modified orm of lock springdand clipfor hold- Fig. 11 is an elevation of the spring and clip shown in Fig.10.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view illustrating a modification of'theconstruction shown in Fig. 6'; and

Fig. 13 is a plan view of a further modification of the constructionshown in Fig. 6.

In the drawings and referring first to the construction shown in Figs. 1to 5 inclusive, AA represents two structural plate or bar like partssecured together by a bolt B having a head B at one end, and having itsopposite end threaded to receive a nut G. llhe latter is shown as of theordinary castellated type,that is, it is formed with a 11% plurality ofradial slots in its outer or exposed end. lhe bolt B is formed with a inits threaded end. In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the nutand bolt are prevented from unscrewing 105 by a helical spring D d Dinhaving one en turned and received in the bolt slot B and having itsopposite end offset and received in a correspondingly located slot 0 inthe nut C. The spring D is put in place, under ten- H9 the end portion Dsion, and not only resists any tendency of nism or tools not necessaryto describe here- I in. Each spring and its tension-holding clip, whenassembled as shown in Fig. 3, form.a unit which may form an article ofcommerce and may be shipped and stored indefinitely in condition foruse.

After the spring D with its retaining clip E is put in place, the clipmay be readily removed, as by a hammer blow or by prying it ofi' with ascrew-driver or chisel, and when removed, the force of the spring isdirectly applied to the nut and bolt by the ends of the spring incontacttherewithf Advantageously, the spring ends D and D may be formedwith sharpened edges D adapted to bite into the adjacent surfaces of thebolt and nut. As shown in Fig. 4, the clip E is formed of a metal striphaving ends bent to engage the edges of the spring D. Advantageously,one end of the clip E is formed with a shoulder E adapted to engage theinner surface of the spring adjacent to thereof. In case it is desirableto remove the nut at any time, this may be easil accomplished'by pryingthe spring out of place with a' chisel or the like, or by forcing it outwith a hammer. When thereafter the parts are re-assembled, a new lookspring and tension-holding clip unit may be applied as before, or thepreviously used lock springmay again be used by first putting it undertension and applying a tension-holding clip thereto.

In the construction shown in Fig. 6, CA represents a nut threaded on abolt BA passing through a plate AA a ainst which one end of the nut GAbears. nut lock spring DA acts between the nut and'the plate and exertsa force on the nut tending to tighten it up on the bolt BA. The springDA is formed with a sharpened edge D adapted to bite into a flat side ofthe nut CA and is formed as its other end with a portion D adapted tobear against the edge of the plate AA. Thetension-holding clip EA, inthis form of my invention, character to the clip E already described. Inapplying the spring DA in Fig. 6, the sharp edge D of the spring mayadvantageously be forced to bite into the nut by a hammer blow, beforethe clip EA is removed.

applied to it a bridle orin Figs. 7 and may be analogous in In themodified construction illustrated in Figs. 7, 8 and 9', the lock springDB acts between the nut CA and the adjacent plate A, but in this case,the nut lock spring DB is interposed between the end of the nut CA andthe adjacent face of the plate A.- The spring DB is a spiral spring asdistinguished from a helical spring, and is put under tension byexpanding it into the form shown 8. contracts to the form shown in Fig.9. In its expanded condition, the spring forms one complete spiral turn,and its two ends are formed with oppositely directed edges D adaptedtobite into the adjacent faces of the nut CA and adjacent plate A.Associated with each spring DB, when thelatter is in condition forapplication, is a tension-holding device EB which is shown as consistingof a piece of easily sheared wire EB which is received in grooves formedin the end surfaces of the spring. The nut construction shown in Figs.7, 8 and 9, is of especial utility where conditions permit the bolt BAto be rotated, as by means of a wrench applied to its head B, intightening up the nut. When so used, the bolt may be tightened up untilthe axial compression of the spring DB causes the wire section EB to besheared ofi, thus freeing the spring from the restraining efiect of thebond Ieviously formed by the piece of wire EB,

permitting the spring to exert its tighten-- ing effect between the nutCA and the adjacent plate A. The tightening up of the bolt and nutinthis manner will cause the shoulders D to bite into the nut and theshearing of the wire EB is completed sufliciently to prevent relativemovement between each sharpened spring edge or shoulder D and theadjacent part into which it ites.

The lock spring DC shown in Figs. 10 and 11 is a spiral spring, springDB of Figs 7, 8 and 9, but is used with a different form oftension-holding clip -EC. The clip EC is in the form of a metal strip orbar which engages the two end surfaces of the ring and is shown asformed with shoulders at its ends, one engaging the outer surface of theinner end of the ring and the other engaging the outer surface of theouter end of the ring. When the lock spring DC is .used in place of thespring B in the construction shown in Fig. 7, either the tighten thestructure, and after the parts are suficiently tightened, the clip maybe released by a blow with a hammer or, if need be, it may readily becut in two with a chisel. In the use of the forms of my invention shownin Figs. 6 to 11 incluslve, it may sometimes be desirable to out notcheswith a cold chisel, or the like, in the nuts or plates generally likethe lock.

nut'or the bolt may be turned to When free, the spring plate'befor e toreceive the biting edges of the lock spring. 13o

The construction shown in Fig. 12 difiers from that shown in Fig. 6 inthat the upper portion of spring DD replacing the spring DA. of Fig. 6is bent into hexagonal form to fit snugly about the periphery of the nutCA to thereby secure the upper end of the spring D to the nut.

The construction shown in Fig. 13 difiers from thatjshown in Fig. 6 onlyin that the upper end of the spring DE is connected to the castella'tednut C as the spring and nutare connected in Figs. 1 and 2.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, I haveillustrated and described the best forms of my invention now known-tome, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can bemade in the form of my invention without departing from its spirit, andthat some features structure comprising parts threaded together, to keepsaid parts screwed tight, con-- sisting of a coiled spring havingprovisions at its ends for engagmg and thereby tending to relativelyrotate parts of said structure relatively rotatable about an axisparallel to the axis about which the spring is coiled, and incombination with said spring a bond ior holding said spring undertension during its application to said structure and readily releasableafter such application.

CLENCE M. MENDENHALL.

